his scaffolding outside the artment building. only thing that kept him falling six stories was the safety harness. thankful for that. bill: story to tell his buddies. mitt romney tomorrow here live. see you then. jenna: we'll look forward to the that interview. meantime we'll start off with politics today ourselves. we're glad you're with us everybody, i'm jenna lee. jon: i'm joan so the. "happening now", brand new polls in the race for the white house focusing on all-important swing states. purple because they could go republican red or democrat blue. last time around though all went for president obama but this time he could be in for a real battle in these so-called battleground states. jenna: interesting to look at the map. look at this, "usa today", fall lup poll, -- "gallup poll", mitt romney against the president, romney would

beat the president, 48 to 43%. president would do a little better against newt gingrich. jon: but he would still lose. gingrich getting 48 to the president's 45. when you factor in margin of error in both polls, plus or minus 4% it is really too close to call. joining us stuart rot thenburg, columnist for "roll call" and editor of the rot thenburg political report. these can not be numbers for the white house. president appears to be in much more trouble this time around? >> jon, this confirms everything we've been talking about the past few months. the president face as very different political environment in 2012 then he did in 2008. that is not surprising. that shouldn't be surprising. he was after all the outsider, challenger, the figure that was going to bring the country together and the country was disappointed in president bush's term so people wanted change. now people still want

change. the problem for the president owe is the president and represents the status quo. >> here's a look at the way "usa today" puts it in this morning's edition. 49% versus 38 when john mccain was running against barack obama four years ago. 43 for the republican, 45% now. a much closer race and the enthusiasm of republican voters is up this time around as well. this poll shows republican enthusiasm. 61% say they were very enthusiastic, versus 35% conservative democrats. this according to the "usa today-gallup poll". the enthusiasm of republican conservative voters way up this time around. >> now republicans have a reason to be against somebody. they can be against the president who they see someone for larger government and higher taxes and more spending. if you harken back to four

years ago we had been finishing up eight years of the bush presidency. while some republicans hold former president george w. bush in high regard, many voters including many republicans back then were disappointed. were disappointed about the economy, the war in iraq and the like. so the environment is fundamentally different now. republicans can be energized and excited as they take on president obama. that is a huge shift in the electorate. >> but we are still almost a year out from that 2012 election, stuart. a lot can change in those 11 plus months. >> jon, you're absolutely right. we always warn people about polls. they're just a snapshot of today and don't tell us two months from now or six months from now. the buzz frankly on the ground is about newt gingrich and if you talk to most republican strategists, most insiders, most former office holders, people who served, served with the former speaker they do not believe he can be elected president. they believe he will explode, implode or otherwise

demolish himself between now and november. while those poll numbers are good news for the republicans overall it's going to come down to individual candidates next year. jon: we'll be talking more about those newt gingrich numbers versus mitt romney numbers a little later on in "happening now." stuart rothenburg. thank you. >> pleasure. jon: fox news is your election headquarters. rick has details on thursday's big debate. rick? >> this is the last debate before the voting begins. the iowa caucus, january 3rd. our debate with all the gop candidates thursday night, 9:00 eastern, right here on fox news channel. the last chance to hear these candidates go at it as they try to mpete for your vote. if you go to foxnews.com we have a candidate tracker. you can also get the details about the debate. december 15th, sioux city, iowa. during the debate itself, jon, i will host a online chat at foxnews.com live during the debate. watch it on fox news channel

and chat with me over the web. jon: a busy guy, rick folbaum. thanks. jenna: fox news alert, drifting away from politics a moment now. we have major developments in the penn state child sex abuse case. former football coach jerry sandusky you're seeing on the screen, waiving his right to a preliminary hearing, a decision that moves him one step closer to trial on the multiple charges of child sexual assault. david lee miller has been following the story since the beginning. he is live outside the courthouse in pennsylvania with more. tell us a little bit what happened this morning? >> reporter: a lot of people could not believe what they were hearing. 8:30 this morning the hearing underway. the first thing they were told the defendant is waiving his right for the hearing thaflt was it. it was over in a matter of minutes. with me is the attorney for the accused, jerry sandusky. mr. amendola thanks for joining me. we spoke yesterday morning.

you told me you were not going to waive jerry sandusky's appearance at this hearing. less than two 12 hours later everything changed. what happened? >> i had discussions with the chief prosecutor in jerry's case. as a result we both made concessions. our concession we would waive the preliminary hearing in return for concessions from the commonwealth. would include no further request for increase in bail. expedited discovery to examine the information the commonwealth has which we have not had access to. and the case will move forward in a more orderly way. won't involve either side basically withholding evidence or delaying tactics and we can proceed to trial at the earliest possible time. >> reporter: if this hearing had gone ahead as scheduled jerry sandusky would have come face-to-face, eye-to-eye with many if not all his accusers. can you tell me what he said, his concerns about being in this courthouse this morning?

>> his concerns were it was only going to be the prosecution's case that was presented today. this was not a trial. this is a probable cause hearing. at which we would not have the opportunity to present our defense. we also would not have an opportunity to attack the accuser's credibility. so we analyzed this aspects of it, realized that we were really far ahead of this discovery issue because we were well-prepared for today, that we decided with the concessions that the commonwealth agreed to make in return for a waiver we would waive this proceeding. >> reporter: all right. thank you, joe amendola, the attorney for jerry sandusky, former penn state coach accused of sexual abuse of 10 young boys. i should very quickly add, jenna, do not expect to see jerry sandusky in a courtroom anytime soon. his next court appearance is scheduled for january 11th that is his arraignment. we're told from his defense team that court appearance is also going to be waived. jenna, back to you. jenna: great interview. we appreciate that perspective live from the

courthouse. david lee miller, thank you very much. jon: now this fox news alert about a showdown on capitol hill today involving a couple of important items. lawmakers are expected to vote on extending the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits before both measures expire in couple weeks. republicans say the deal must include support for the keystone oil pipeline, the project that runs from canada to the gulf coast and the white house has put on hold. republicans are as you imagine getting a big push back on that from the white house. mike emanuel on capitol hill. lots of fireworks on this safe to say, huh, mike? >> reporter: jon, that's correct. the keystone pipeline is an issue that republicans and democrats disagree on. another aspect of this bill is over the long haul reducing long term unemployment benefits from a maximum of 99 weeks to 59 weeks. that led to some fireworks between two key lawmakers from the state of michigan. take a listen.

>> focus on the unemployed. >> 9.6% unemployment. >> focus on the unemployed in the state of michigan. >> i'm focused one employed. if we had not passed stimulus bill we would be better off. >> reporter: we expect more fire works today as the house takes up inemployment benefits and keystone pipeline package later on this afternoon. jon? jon: there is tension building on another piece of legislation considered critical. tell us about that. >> reporter: well, that's right because funding of the federal government is due to run out late friday night. and so while the talks have been going on about the payroll tax holiday, we also had appropriations folks meeting behind closed doors to try to hammer out a deal to fund the government through next september but now they're saying that the democrats are saying maybe we should put both the tax issue and the funding of the government issue together into one huge package. some republicans say, hey,

we already had agreed on funding the government. that led the house appropriations chair, hal rogers to make this claim. take a listen. >> it is. being held hostage. >> reporter: so he is saying it is being held hostage. tensions are building on both fronts at this point in a critical week on capitol hill because after friday the government runs out of the funding. jon. jon: wasn't this yesterday we fought about funding the government? seems like it anyway. mike emanuel. >> reporter: a recurring battle here on capitol hill. jon: nothing ever seems to change in washington. mike, thank you. jenna: we'll move onto this fox news alert now. we're getting word about a very important al qaeda operative or operatives captured in yemen. coming into our newsroom. chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge has more on the breaking news. what do we know? >> reporter: thank you, jenna. in the last hour we've been able to confirm through a senior yemeni source half a dozen al qaeda operatives

were picked up in the country including the operative responsible for the attack on the international airport in san'a in 2009. two things that matter for us in the united states. number one many say this group was actively plotting against foreign interests. the statement reads in part, the terrorism suspects have been carrying out surveillance and planning missions aimed at government and high-ranking security officials. furthermore the cell was planning on orchestrating attacks on foreign missions and critical state installations. second of all, this group is also accused of recruiting individuals for something they call ansaral sharia. al qaeda in yemen is in the midst of a major rebranding. they feel the al qaeda name has too much baggage so they're rebranding under this new name to broad the tent and draw in more recruits. that's important because after bin laden's debt in may, transitting of jihadists to pakistan was

diverted. many started to come to yemen. the most recent figure there are upwards of a 1,000 foreign fighters in that country at this time, jenna. jenna: the president's was three decades our ally there we know he has left power. in the process of leaving power. this happened under a new administration in yemen, this capture? >> reporter: what i've been told really since august, september, there's been an incredibly close working relationship between the u.s. intelligence community and the yemenis. one arab diplomats says the two are really like bffs now if you can use the term in the appropriate way. jenna: we'll take it the way you say it. interesting to see the future of this country under new leadership. this is significant under multiple reasons. >> you're welcome. jenna: we appreciate the breaking news. we'll turn to this story closer to home. three college students are accused of hazing after a brutal beating of a fellow band member. this is incident following death of a drum major,

robert champion. the same band is in focus. rick has more on the story coming up. jon: a bloody attack leaves four dead, more than 50 injured, many of them young people. we'll tell you what police are saying in this attack. jenna: former new jersey governor jon corzine back on capitol hill answering more questions about his now bankrupt company, mf global where is the $1.3 billion? that is big question. we have a live report coming up. ♪ . ♪ the weather outside is frightful ♪ ♪ but the fire is so delightful ♪ nothing melts away the cold like a hot, delicious bowl of chicken noodle soup from campbell's. ♪ let it snow, let it snow

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then get lunesta for $0 at lunesta.com. there's a land of restful sleep. we can help you go there on the wings of lunesta. jenna: so oftenwer telling you bad news about the economy but today we have a little bit of good news a little bit of it. "wall street journal" is reporting that several high-profile economists have raised their forecasts for fourth quarter growth. that's the quarter we're in. most are pointing to better

than expected numbers on the economy. if you look where the dow is trading today, it is a tepid 36 points up. we'llake the green rather than the red. steve moore, economics writer for "the wall street journal" he joins us now. what do you make of these forecasts going on? >> a little christmas cheer here. jenna: why not? >> some good forecasts. the first half of this year the economy grew by less than 1% which is barely crawling. now the economists are saying maybe 3 1/2, maybe, as high as 4% growth. that's a good number but you know the bad news here --. jenna: here we go. didn't even have to ask. >> i'm an economist myself. we're not very good predicting these things. these are predict shuns. they're not actual result. >> we'll take that for what it is worth. we see the numbers and three reading on economic growth every time it is revised. that shifts a lot. based on what we're seeing do these reading show we might see job creation, some job growth? >> if we were to get 3 1/2 to 4% growth in the economy for the fourth quarter, that is the equivalent of 250,000

jobs a month. yeah, that would mean the unemployment rate is going to come down. the real question is this sustainable? what we've seen in the last 18 months, jenna, is these numbers keep bumping up and down. jenna: especially the first half of the year. when we look back on last year we saw very slow growth at the beginning of the year. do we see the same for 2012? >> who knows. part of this growth right now in the economy we're seeing a little bit of advanced funding like business spending because some tax cuts will expire at the end of december. when i talk to businessmen and women they say we're buying stuff now to take advantage of the tax cut because next year it will not be available to them. we might be borrowi a little bit of growth from the future. the good news is when we talked about six months ago we were worried about a double-dip recession. you remember that? jenna: i actually want to bring that up. >> because i was wrong. jenna: who knows if you were wrong really. technically when you look at the technical reading of a recession we're already out of the recession.

>> right. jenna: some of you would argue we're still in and it feels that way. 92% of the economists according to "wall street journal" survey the eurozone is in recession or faces imminent recession. nine out of 10 of them. what will that mean going into next year for us? >> it means we can hopefully decouple from europe. european banks and economy is in a sinkhole. right now, jenna, we're more tied to asia almost than we are to europe. i think that is a trend that will continue over the next number of years and decades. europe, hopefully we'll not catch this contagion. that is the concern tim geithner and obama administration has is that the contagion and what i call the euro disease, is that going to affect the united states? hopefully not. i think we can grow whether they do or not. jenna: as of today we'll stay with the good news and higher forecasts. >> 4% growth, wouldn't that be awesome? that is a nice christmas present. jenna: steve, always nice to see you. thank you so much. jon? jon: jenna, a disturbing

story out of florida. three students at florida a&m university making their initial appearance incourt today. they're accused of severely beating a fellow band member during a hazing ritual supposedly a welcome to the band. the beating just three weeks before a drum major actually died in another suspected hazing incident at that school. rick folbaum is on the story, rick? >> jon, the halftime show at florida a&m football games are almost a draw as the game itself the marching band known for high energy and precision choreographed routines. now it is becoming known for a secret society within the band that allegedly dishes out brutal beatings on young inductees. three students have been charged. they are part of a click called the red dog society. within a last few months one band member has died and another has been seriously injured, all apparently related to hazing. the three who have been charged are accused of taking part in the beating of a fellow band member that

left her with a broken thigh and blood clots in that leg. now, university officials are being accused of knowing about the hazing and doing nothing to stop it. the university has indefinitely suspended performances by the band known as the marching 100. and the school president is promising to break what he call as code of silence on the hazing tradition at the university. as we get more, jon, we'll pass it on. jon: that is such an awful story, rick, thank you. jenna: a major legal showdown brewing here in new york city over the plan b emergency contraceptive pill. the breaking details in this fierce fight between the white house and some women's groups. the federal government and the state. there is a lot to this story and we'll dig deeper next. plus the pentagon is winding down production of the most expensive fighter jet ever built. we're going to tell you why just ahead. so who ordered the cereal that can help lower olesterol

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>> right now a federal judge here in new york city is preparing to hearing arguments every the so-called plan b emergency contraceptive also called the morning after pill. the white house overruling a recent fda decision to make a nongeneric version ever the pill available to women over the counter all ages. some women's rights groups are calling purely political. >> reporter: a number of pro-choice groups say they are furious about the administration's decision to block over-the-counter access for plan b morning-after pill for those under the age of 17. kathleen sebelius overruled the fda's recommendation and say anyone who is not 17 must get prescription in order to get pills which pro-life groups argue could induce an abortion.

pro-choice groups feel outraged and betrayed. >> actions last week by the secretary of hhs were a betrayal of the president's promise to have science and not politics make decisions about women's reproductive health. it is really critical that contraceptives be able to have the same standard of science when it comes to approving them for over-the-counter use. what we saw last week was that politics was the standard, not science. >> reporter: although president obama says he was not involved in the decision made by secretary sebelius, he does support it. critics of the move however are questioning whether the president has made a political calculation. they're arguing that he knows pro-choice advocates are unlikely to abandon him and vote for a gop rival but the issue of 12-year-old girls having unfettered access to the morning-after pill pill that could launch a culture war he might not want to engage in as he campaigns for re-election. fda is due to respond to a request to make a generic version of the morning-after

pill more widely available. legal fight was launched in the bush administration and it is still ongoing today, jon. jon: didn't the secretary say essentially there hadn't been enough studies done on age brackets and appropriateness of just handing out the pill to say 12-year-olds? >> she did. she expressed great concern about something like this accessible to 10, 11, 12-year-old girl. the president said in his comments you have to use common sense along with the science in making a decision. jon: shannon bream, who covers legal events for us. thank you. jenna: common sense, science, federal government and state rights. that is something that the brooklyn court is looking at today. we'll talk a little more about this former federal prosecutor doug burns is with us and former criminal defense attorney, tad nelson. this is what the federal judge in brooklyn is looking at today. he is hearing arguments whether the government, the federal government is acting constitutionally over the access teenage girls have over access to the pill.

there are a lot of strong reaction to this, but we're looking at the constitutionality of the law. doug, with you first, what is the argument on the side of the prosecution in this case? >> well the argument, the center for reproductive rights brought a lawsuit against the administration. they make a two-pronged argument. number one i suppose that the secretary of hhs acted unreasonably when she disagreed and overruled the findings of the fda. that is sort of an administrative law question. the other argument they're making is that this particular medication is being singled out and not being treat different than similar ones. and i want to say from sort of an editorial standpoint, legal analysis very often does not line up with political analysis. judge corman is a brilliant jurist who i appeared before many, many times and owe will sort it out legally. jenna: pick up off of that, tad which is the strongest argument? doug pointed it you have one based in law and one really

based in common sense. >> clearly it is a little bit more than just common sense. it is based totally on politics, if you stretch that further it is based totally in religion. one question this is abortion issue. this is no different than any other abortion issue to these people. they will not look at the science. the science is unimportant. if you look at statistics and science together the reason we don't let kids drink alcohol they're not responsible enough for it. same reason we don't let them drive until a certain age. same reason you can't consume tobacco. however in this situation, if you look at statistics teenage pregnancy is horrible. it ruins lives. it brings you poverty. it brings you illiteracy. the statistics are overwhelming. however in this situation despite if you would allow this drug to be used by these people, and all the goods that it could do they're still making a stance against it. shows you despite the information they don't care. it comes down to one question, it is another abortion question.

conservatives will never have another stance on it. jenna: do you agree with that? some are arguing double-standard when it comes down to the medication itself. when you look at other medication, available over-the-counter it can be more complicated than this pill could be and if it is really about making a choice and being able to take the pill correctly there is a double-standard. so what do you think about that? >> let me just say, first, from a political standpoint it is interesting. mayor bloomering about, the mayor of new york city takes the opposite position from the president of the united states arguing basically that this is a counter intuitive issue. while of course we don't want to promote sex with 12 and 13-year-olds reality this will be more of a solution. but the fact of the matter is that if this were a situation, and i think this is what you were getting at, jenna, where some obscure and tad is making same point, obscure scientific aspect having nothing to do with the hot button issue of abortion or contraception were involved this would never even be a story. that's the point. >> exactly.

jenna: tad, your final thoughts on this? >> and agree with him. he hit the nail on the head. this wasn't an abortion issue you wouldn't have invited us to your show today and that is what is so unfortunate here. i'm glad to be here but at the same time, we are just kicking a dead horse and this, should go with the science. allow all the good this drug can do and move on and get politics and religion out of this. jenna: you raise a good point. that is one of the reasons because there are so many different emotions surrounding this one issue and all the different sides to it as well. it comes down to what's right and what's wrong and what's legal and what's not and sometimes those things don't always coincide as we know. tad and doug, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> thanks, jenna, a winter warm storm warning in a place you might not expect with a lot of snow. janice dean joins us with that. death and destruction. this is what some people including presidential candidate say would happen if a electromagnetic pulse attack were directed at the

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jenna: hear, today, focusing on one of the biggest corporate meltdowns in our history. mf global declaring bankruptcy six weeks ago. ever since then the feds have tried to locate more than a billion dollars in customer funds. they are not sure how much

is missing. they think that it is around that amount. jon corzine, former senator, former governor, former goldman sachs ceo. once considered as head of the treasury secretary. he is back in d.c. facing more tough questions. there are more tough questions to answer. chief washington correspondent james rosen is here. >> reporter: jenna, this morning marks the first time we hear from two colleagues of jon corzine. mf president and ceo. corzine told the house agricultural committee last week that he doesn't know what happened to the $1.2 billion of customer fund and or why the funds were not kept seg a bated from the firms own accounts. that hours before the firm claimed bankruptcy that he first heard about it. >> when was the first thing you thought of and did? >> congressman, in those late hours, and i think i said this earlier too, the other question, really was

disbelief, stunned disbelief that this could be the case. when many hundreds of millions was reported to be missing. and, -- >> i understand that. >> go back and check your work, what is the first response. >> reporter: corzine went on to say he was sitting with mf global's chief financial officer when he issued the order to go back and checks your work. our colleague peter barnes at fox business news obtained the opening statement of mf global's cfo to be delivered shortly at senate agricultural committee hearing. henri. steencamp recalls the moments. when act withization of all or part of the company appeared to be close at hand i first learned of a serious issue with mf global segregation calculations. i was told earlier that day appeared to be a deficit in

the segregation calculation and then shortly thereafter was told it was resolved. it does not show up anywhere in corzine's version of events. at least seven investigations of mf global are now underway including probes by the justice department, three regulatory agencies that oversee wall street and three congressional committees. auditors estimate that the firm's 36 thousand customers recovered up to 70%. their losses. not so for more than 25 mf global employees now or soon to be out of work. jenna. jenna: that's another consequence of all this, all the people, more job losses yet again. james, something we're watching closely. we'll see if we find the billion between now and the end of the day. a lot of work. >> reporter: don't hold your breath. jenna: james, something they will have to figure out. thanks so much. >> reporter: thank you. jon: talking about money, the f-22 raptor is the most expensive jet ever built in the u.s. widely acknowledged as the most capable fighter aircraft flying in the world. this $150 million a copy jet

has been under fire for years because of its high cost. well now production of the plane is coming to an end. jonathan serrie has more on why. jonathan? >> reporter: the f-22 raptor you see behind me will be the last to roll off the assembly line at the lockheed martin facility in marietta, georgia. it was a combination of its price tag and purpose that ended production of this fighter aircraft. each one has an official price tag of $153 million. it was designed with a high-tech enemy in mind and critics had argued with the end of the cold war such an enemy no longer exists although defenders say it made an excellent deterrent against emerging powers. either way, financial concerns won out and this aircraft is being discontinued in favor of the f-35 joint strike fighter which has a price tag of about 2/3 of the jet that you see behind me. also the f-35 being designed

with foreign sales in mind, which is not an option for the f-22. the aircraft you see behind me is simply so advanced, the congress didn't want to risk the technology being objection ported and potentially falling into enemy hands. back to you. jon: jonathan serrie, reporting from georgia for that. lockheed martin tells us there will be no major layoffs as a result of the end of this program. most of the f-22 workers have either retired or found other jobs within the company. jenna: right now winter storm warning in northern arizona of all places. folks in flagstaff enduring cold temperatures and strong winds. they could get up to 14 inches of snow. they normally get snow but seems unfair, janice dean, arizona has the snow and the east coast, not really. >> have you got your fancy boots out yet? jenna: not yet. not until 20 degrees and lower. we haven't been close to that. that is my indicator. >> kind of ground hog day

across the west. they keep getting hit with the storms. here on the east coast we've seen above average temperatures. that trend will kind of continue. rain moving into portions of southern california and snow flying across arizona and the four corners. mainly rain across the plains although we're seeing a wintry mix. that is the area concerned with overnight tonight into tomorrow. let's look at snow totals around the flagstaff area above 5,000 feet. 10 to 16 inches. one to two feet into higher elevations of arizona and new mexico and close to two feet for parts of colorado. so you know the ski resorts are loving it, but again, here across the northeast we're expecting a little snow and it just hasn't happened yet. winter weather advisories for the four corners regions. then the freezing rain advisories where we could zeroeds get real slick overnight tonight. the rainfalls through a layer of freezing air and freezes on contact. that's where we're concerned with the potential of

freezing rain overnight into tomorrow. back to you, jenna. jenna: janice dean, thank you so much. >> you bet. jon: breaking news after this coming break. in the long island serial killer story. plus chos on a los angeles proway after eight big-rigs collide on i-5. what went wrong? that's next. california police on the hunt for a brazen bandit with an unusual taste for tybe bas. the we are not kidding. breaking details just ahead. ♪ . the best approach to food is tkeep it whole for better nutrition. that's what they do with great grains cereal. they steam and bake the actual whole grain while the otr guy's flake is more processed.

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jon: a fox news alert. police on long island in new york are having a news conference right now announcing that they believe they have found the remains of shannan gilbert. she is the prostitute who disappeared after making a call in that area. police believe they have found her remains.

it is the search for shannan gilbert that led them to find the remains of 10 other people, none of whom were shannon. they believe they have found her remains. the medical examiner will make the official identification. it close as chapter on this mystery but raises so many other questions. we'll continue to keep an eye on it. let you know what else they say. jenna: in the meantime a rash of thefts in southern california targeting several high schools, reporting big losses but wait until you hear what the thieves were looking for. rick, you have more on this? >> well, jenna, this is just not cool, tubas. that is what they were looking and that's what they have been taken. tubas being stolen from all over los angeles right out of high school music rooms and no one has any idea is doing it. these are worth some cash. 5,000 for a new one and 2000 for a old dented one. there is music craze leading

to a big black market for musical instruments. budget cuts have music programs to find tubas for their tuba players to play. we're only 38 days from the annual marching band championship in east l.a. let's hope they find the tubas in time. maybe we have a bicoastal tuba loaner program. there is no shortage here in new york. take a listen to the all tuba orchestra at rockefeller center the other day. ♪ . nice, right? maybe we could fedex some of those tubas out to the west coast. the kids can play them in that competition this weaken and ship them back to new york. i was online this morning trying to find the organizers of the that "30 rock" event and see if maybe they would be willing to help us out.

i'm still working on it. jenna: you don't think there is a conspiracy, do you? >> no, i don't. i'm not suggesting there is any kind of tuba conspiracy. i'm thinking maybe the new york tuba players could help the los angeles tuba players that would be nice, right? jenna: i think a little bipartisan, bicoastal. >> bicoastal. exactly. jenna: i would imagine them only stereotyping here life as a tuba player might be tough enough. to walk in and see your tuba stolen, what are you supposed to do? >> they have to lug that thing around all the time. jenna: not like the flute players. jon: i believe the grinch stole tubas in the book. i think it is in there. jenna: how many, rick, were gone? >> there have been a bunch of different schools. over 13 tubas in all have been stolen from different schools. jenna: got to be hiding somewhere. rick, thank you very much. jon: could be a major discovery. while all the tubas are missing scientists found something, exploring the mysteries of the universe. what researchers in geneva may have uncovered using an at tom smasher. we'll tell you coming up.

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jon: it's a doomsday scenario right out of a sci-fi novel. a nuclear blast high above the u.s. that could instantly plunge parts of the country, wide swaths of it into darkness. it is called an electromagnetic pulse attack. republican presidential candidate newt gingrich believes if this happened it could cause chaos and death from coast to coast. peter vincent is the president of the impact america group. served on the congressional

emp commission. newt gingrich warned on this on the campaign trail. he is not alone. other folks from both parties said this is a real possibility. how realistic, peter? >> it is a have a very realistic threat. the congressional emp commission said why iran is developing nuclear weapons. they wrote about attack united states with a nuclear emp attack in their writings. we've seen them engaged in missile training that has all the signatures of preparing for an emp attack including launching missiles from a ship, so that they can do a emp attack from a ship using a short-range missile that would catch us by surprise. and this is not just a finding of newt gingrich but or the commission on which i served but two congressional commissions, the emp commission and the strategic posture commission, both independently concluded that rogue states and terrorists could indeed execute this threat as well as three

other major u.s. government studis. and --. jon: let's tell people what's involved here. go back to 1962. this actually happened. back then the united states was testing nuclear weapons in the atmosphere. this was before there was a treaty to ban it and all nuclear testing went underground. we blew up a nuclear weapon high in the air over the pacific, all of a sudden the lights went out in hawaii, right? >> that's right. that was during the 1962 starfish prime nuclear test. it came as a surprise to the defense community and scientific community. nobody knew what had caused that and dr. william graham, who was the chairman of the congressional emp commission which i served, he was then a young defense scientist and it was his first job to go investigate this incident in hawaii. and it turned out this was an example, a case of a electromagnetic pulse attack. jon: we're showing agraphic on the screen of lights going off all over the country but when you think

about it the problem would be far worse than that. you are talking about hospitals with no power. people on ventilators, suddenly dying simply because there is no energy. so much of our infrastructure relies on computer controls. all of that would be out. gingrich and others are talking about the possibility of tens of millions of deaths from a nuclear strike that doesn't even land, you know, doesn't go off right above-ground. >> that's right. and he's correct in that. that's another finding from the emp commission. we, judged that given the nation's current state of unpreparedness to deal with an emp, that within a year of an emp attack, about 2/3 of the national population would probably die from starvation, disease, societal collapse. this nation can't survive, can't survive as a modern civilization without electricity for a protracted period of time. jon: wow. >> an emp would basically destroy not just the electric power grid but all the critical infrastructures that sustain life and make

it possible to keep 300 million americans alive. jon: wow. >> transportation, communications banking finance, food and water all them depend directly or indirectly on electricity. jon: certain an issue that bears a lot more scrutiny. peter vincent pry. >> thank you. jenna: we'll shift from national security to the perfect holiday gift for the person in your life who has just about everything like this guy. jon: yeah. jenna: it is more flash than flush. a toilet decorated with 700, 72,000, do i have the number right, jon,, that's what they tell me. jenna: 72 thousand pieces of swarfsky crystal. this is fancy toilet displayed in japan. it is not for sale yet. the manufacturer says it will go for 10 million bucks. will be on display to december 28th. it is out there if you're looking. jon: too pretty to use. a national security crisis in the middle east.

why the group hezbollah could pose a serious threat to the ci. a and could bring the u.s. to the brink of all-out war. new polling in iowa. as the battle with newt gingrich and mitt romney inintensifies.

>> reporter: hi, everybody, rick folbaum at the fox news assignment desk, this is a courthouse in pennsylvania where there was a surprise this morning when the former penn state assistant football coach jerry sandusky waived his right to a preliminary hearing. he denies charges that he abused ten young boys over a 12-year period. these are the streets of sioux city, iowa, that joint will be hopping come thursday night because there is a gop debate in town. it's the last one before the iowa caucuses january 3rd, and it's right here on fox news channel, 9:00 eastern time. and then take a look at this stretch of beach right along the highway there, long island, new york, where police believe they have found the body of a missing

prostitute, shannon gilbert. the original search leading police to uncover the work of a serial killer believed to be responsible for ten murders in new york. some of the stories we're following for you as the second hour of "happening now" starts right now. jenna: shaping up to be a real nail biter in the race for the white house at least for the gop. i'm jenna lee. jon: i'm jon scott. welcome to a brand new hour of "happening now." the iowa caucuses exactly three weeks from today, and the gop hopefuls are fighting for every vote they can g. jenna: well, every vote counts, doesn't it? in a race like this. we're going to take a look at two polls, newt gingrich leading the pack at nearly 30% and ron paul in third. about ten percentage points behind romney. another more recent poll has those same three candidates nearly in a statistical dead heat. l gingrich still ahead, but paul

and romney close at 17 apiece. a.b. stoddard, before we dig into these numbers, just give us kind of a big picture here. why does winning in iowa matter? >> winning in iowa is, it's the first contest, and it creates momentum, it creates money if you're the victor, and it is just days before new hampshire. new hampshire tends to sometimes take another victor, but it's really the first contest, it's a conservative swing state, it really is a very tough for any republican to explain away a bad loss. i think that this year the result could be muddled, we might not have a clear victor in iowa, but everyone wants to make a splash in iowa in order to build momentum for the contest the rest of the month and winter. jenna: if i had a nickel for every time i said newt gingrich is surging last week, i'd be a rich woman. [laughter] we saw with polls here there's some leveling off in the field

as we hook at this week. what do you make of that? >> well, i mean, i think it is natural for it to tighten because i think the race remains fluid in iowa. although newt gingrich has a lead there, in the last week's new york times/cbs news poll two-thirds of voters said they had chosen someone, but they could be changing their mind. that means they have to fight for every vote and fight for a lead. you see ron paul as a real factor in the iowa caucuses, jenna. governor branstad of iowa said ron paul's operation is second to none. i predict that he will have a very good showing there, and it will also prevent someone from get ago clear victory. it's possible that gingrich has a clear win there, but it's also possible that ron paul making a good showing would help mitt romney. jenna: is the ron paul story that you're seeing in iowa isolate today that state, or is that something we should factor in when we look at new hampshire, south carolina and florida? >> ron paul, um, is doing his best to campaign everywhere.

i don't know that he's going to do very well in florida or south carolina. he has a better chance in new hampshire. but he has devoted following everywhere, and he intends because of proportional voting to collect delegates throughout this entire process. there will be some winner-take-all contest in this winter and spring, jenna, but the republican national committee changed the rules from last time with proportional voting, people can keep piling up delegates and stay in the race a long time which means that ron paul, while people stumble and have their ups and downs, makes trouble for the ultimate front runner. jenna: you said it's really about someone not having a bad loss in iowa. the top might be muddled, but it's about who has the most to lose. who do you think has the most to lose when it comes to the state of iowa? >> mitt romney. mitt romney was the de facto front runner for months and months, he's now behind newt gingrich. he has double-digit lead in most

of the early states over mitt romney. it might be tightening in iowa, he might be able to explain away a loss to ron paul's good showing there. he's doing very well in south carolina and florida, he's nipping at mitt romney's heels in new hampshire where romney retains the lead, but it is diminishing. newt gingrich's momentum is a real threat to romney, and if he losesser thely in iowa, it could be a problem for him in new hampshire. jenna: some have suggested he tried to keep his distance from iowa, and newt gingrich's recent rise in the polls is making him double down on iowa which wasn't the strategy going in. we'll continue to watch this, a.b., thank you so much. >> thank you. jenna: be sure to stick with fox news for all our political coverage. we've got a big event in iowa, the republican presidential debate. it'll give voters a final chance to hear candidates square off before the caucuses thursday night, right here on the fox news channel. jon: the threat of a partial government shutdown, we are getting word that the white house is now pushing senate

democrats to hold up passage of a bill that would keep the government running. republicans, asou fuming. wendell goler live at the white house with more on that. >> reporter: the issue is extending the payroll tax cut. both the white house and republican congressional leaders trying to tie that to issues they want. the house will vote today on a measure that would foirs the white house -- force the white house to expedite construction of the keystone xl pipeline as their price for extending the payroll tax cut. the president, meanwhile, trying to force members of congress to vote on extending the tax cut before voting on a bill that would avert a government shutdown. the congress must pass an appropriations bill by midnight friday to maintain the government's spending authority, and there's some concern here that lawmakers might do that and just go home. the president says he won't let lawmakers go home without voting on the payroll tax cut. he has reportedly asked senate majority leader harry reid to hold off the appropriations bill

until the tax cut is voted on, but republican congressman hal rogers says that's risky. >> we can't move until they sign the conference report. it's a shame that they are toying around with government shutdown here. >> reporter: what you probably couldn't hear as well as you might have been in the room is that rogers says it's a shame they're toying around with a government shutdown here which is exactly what democrats say republicans are doing by holding the middle class tax cut hostage to extending, to expediting construction of the keystone xl pipeline. jay carney saying in an off-camera briefing, quote, they're basically saying we're doing a favor for you, president obama, by voting for this payroll tax cut extension, otherwise we wouldn't do it. carney thinks that's a tough position for republicans to sell given how hard they have fought to maintain the bush administration's upper income tax cuts. jon? jon: all right.

so you guys need to keep covering this back and forth, and viewers need to pay attention as to who's doing what, figure out who gets the blame for all of this. wendall goarl, thank you. jenna: "happening now," escalating violence in syria, we're getting reports that security forces have fired on a funeral procession killing two people, raising today's death toll to at least 28. all of these reports tough to verify, of course, from the outside looking in. leland vittert is live from jerusalem as he takes a look at what's happening in that part of the world. leland? >> reporter: hi, jenna. right now we're looking at a death toll that is now well over 5,000 since these protests began, and there's a feeling that if assad government falls, the new regime in syria would actually be the first western-friendly regime that could come out of the arab spring. that means russia and iran are certainly putting a lot of force behind keeping assad in power, and the stakes here are very high. from mass anti-government

protests to running street battles, the fight for syria has entered a new chapter, pitting the well-equipped army against it own people. >> the army is pretty strong. we should not forget that bashar has the spear yorety of -- superiority of using the air force. >> this professor heads a department at tel aviv university and says that underestimating assad and his regime is a mistake. a small group of elites control it is military and the economy. they enjoy the full support of iran which wants to keep assad in power. >> he's very important because he is kind of unique, an essential link between the persian gulf and the mediterranean. >> reporter: retired israeli general and current minister of strategic affairs spends a lot of his days watching intelligence reports from syria.

>> we have to worry about it generally speaking, but we can't be involved in it. we watch it very carefully. >> reporter: the current thought here in israel is that assad leaving would be a good thing for the jewish state. in fact, the defense minister said, oh, we believe that assad's weeks are numbered. the only thing, jenna, is there have been a lot of experts saying he'll be gone in weeks. they said that in march, he's still in power. we'll see if he continues to hold on. back to you. jenna: leland, thank you. jon: well, this nation's defense secretary, leon panetta, is in afghanistan to meet with troop commanders and reaffirm america's commitment to that country. our national security correspondent jennifer griffin is streaming live from kabul, afghanistan. jennifer? >> reporter: jon, we are on a multi-country tour of the middle east with the defense secretary, leon panetta. we a i arrived in afghanistan just a few hours ago, we'll be in iraq later this week for a

ceremony to mark the end of that war. here in afghanistan i sat down with the defense secretary and asked him about the relationship with the afghans in the wake of the embarrassing drone incident. the drone, the rq-170 that went down over iran that was being flown out of western afghanistan. here's what he said. >> it's pretty clear that those operations have to be protected in order to do the job and the mission that they're involved with. >> reporter: will those operations continue since they're being flown out of afghanistan? >> absolutely. >> reporter: he said that the, um, the the drone operations, the spying campaign over iran being run from air bases in afghanistan would continue. it was a very clear message from the defense secretary. he's going to meet with president hamid karzai here in kabul tomorrow, and it is likely that president karzai could protest the fact that those,

that drone operation was unraveled because of the drone going down. the secretary would not speculate as to what caused the drone to go down, um, but our reporting has suggested that something caused the automatic landing mechanism to go into place. and i asked the secretary whether he thought it could have been a cyber attack. again, he would not speculate. prime minister maliki of iraq was in washington on monday, and he downplayed the issue of iran and iranian influence in iraq after the u.s. troops leave. the secretary had a different take, and he said he had a very clear message for him, that the u.s. is going to be staying in the middle east. here's what he said. >> the middle east is, is a priority for us. we care about what goes on there. there's a lot of important issues that we deal with in that region, and for that reason we have a large presence throughout the middle east. and we're stationed in a number

of areas there. and it totals approximately about 40,000 troops that we have within the region. and that ought to be a very clear signal. >> reporter: secretary panetta again said that there would be 40,000 u.s. troops even after all u.s. troops are out of iraq later this week, there will be 40,000 troops left in the middle east at various bases. general john allen who heads, who's the commanding general here in nato forces sat down with us a little while l ago. he also said he's trying to smooth over tensions, working very hard to smooth over tensions with the pakistanis. he said he placed a phone call to general kiyani, the head of pakistan's army, yesterday to try to increase border communication after that incident on november 26th that killed 24 pakistanis. jon? jon: a critically important trip for the new defense secretary. jennifer griffin, thanks. jenna: a surprising move by

former assistant penn state coach jerry san sandusky today, we're going to have the latest on that. plus, courtroom drama unfolding before our very eyes. but if casey anthony, o.j. simpson, conrad murray had been tried in federal court, you never would have seen it. now what could be a major game changer for the u.s. federal court system, that's ahead. and rick is over at the web wall with more. >> reporter: maybe you're so jazzed up about the iowa caucuses on january 3rd that you can't wait that long, or maybe you live in jersey or tennessee. we have a chance for you to go to the "happening now" home page, scroll down in the poll today. it lets you vote, sort of in an unofficial way. if iowa caucus was to be held today, who would you vote for? let's take a look at the vote so far, newt gingrich with a pretty strong lead there, almost 48% of you saying you would vote for newt. by the way, all the candidates participating in the last debate before the caucus, thursday

night, 9:00 right here on fox news channel, and you can chat live with me at foxnews.com during the debate. we'll have more "happening now" after a quick break. don't go away. years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. it's good. honey, i love you... oh my gosh, oh my gosh.. look at these big pieces of potato. ♪ what's that? big piece of potato. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. ♪ with quarter-inch holes and blueprints for the coming year?

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jon: right now some new information on crime stories we're keeping an eye on. former penn state coach jerry sandusky waives his preliminary hearing on child sex abuse charges. sandusky's attorney called it a tactical measure. some accusers were expected to testify in court today. florida police searching through a missing mom's cell phone looking for clues as to her whereabouts. michelle parker's phone found last week at the bottom of a lake. she was last seen nearly a month ago after appearing on "the people's court." and an alarming spike in police officer deaths this year. according to one report a14% increase over last year, and this veteran new york city police officer is the 166th victim in 2011. jenna: o.j. simpson, casey

anthony, conrad murray, some of the most captivating dramas in the past two decades have been played out in courtrooms, and we've been watching. state courtrooms, in fact. but in their federal counterparts, the most dramatic images you'll see are sketches unless now. adam houseley is live from los angeles with more. >> reporter: that's right. you can add scott peterson to that list. a lot of court cases happening here in the west, o.j. had a number here in the west alone, including the one in las vegas that we covered. state level as well as county level the superior courts, now the feds are trying a new pilot program. >> have you ever exchanged sex for money? >> no. >> reporter: taped proceedings from a federal courtroom in tennessee now posted online. >> having the cameras in the courtroom changed everything in that case. >> reporter: lawyer david gingrich was 1500 miles away when the hearing took place. >> i received a report the day after the hearing from our local counsel basically explaining how the hearing went. that meant almost nothing to me until i went online myself and

watched the video. >> reporter: that case was the first of a new effort within the federal judiciary to see if cameras and trial courts mix. >> if people could see the federal courts where you really have important national issues being decided by really great judges and lawyers on both sides fully prepared, that people would say i'm proud of this system, i now have a better understanding of how government works. >> reporter: and like many in the judiciary, supreme court chief justice john roberts is also intrigued. >> i'll be very interest today see what the results of the pilot program in the lower courts look like. >> reporter: it's only for civil cases, and all parties -- including the judge -- must agree to take part. while some say it's a move towards transparency, others worry about self-promoters playing to the cameras. >> can i totally trust judges to control their courtrooms whether cameras are there or not. but there are a lot of players

in a courtroom, and my basic concern is always the integrity and trustworthiness of the judicial process. >> we wanted cameras there, and we felt having everyone see the issues discussed in court would be helpful and, ultimately, it really was helpful. >> reporter: once again, jenna, these proceedings are taped, they're not live, and it's curious to see how justice john roberts responds after he has a chance to watch this pilot program, jenna. jenna: it'll be interesting to watch. you don't know any players that play to the camera, do you, adam? i mean, not in our business. >> reporter: we've never seen that, including the most recent case down here. jenna: adam houseley, thank you. jon: a deadly chain reaction on the highway now blamed on something that is dangerously common. why federal safety experts are raising new alarms about texting behind the wheel and other hazardous distractions. also, a terrorist group claims an intelligence victory against the united states. what it means for the cia's spy

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jenna: we have some new information now on the cause of a deadly highway pileup in missouri. this happened a couple of summers ago but, rick, these images are really tough to forget. >> reporter: it's true, jenna. this was a chain collision just to remind everybody involving a pickup, a tractor trailer and two school buses. two people were killed and 38 more injured, and now the national transportation safety board says the driver that started it all, a 19-year-old who was behind the wheel of that pickup truck, had sent 11 text messages in the 11 minutes leading up to the accident. tests have shown that texting while behind the wheel is more dangerous than driving drunk. in november pennsylvania became the 35th state to ban it, but in spite of all of that, the

transportation secretary, ray lahood, says the problem is getting worse, not better. half of all drivers between the ages of 21-24 say that they have texted while driving. 20% of drivers overall say that they have done it. and i must admit, i used to do it myself until i respond today a text from my wife recently only to have her get very angry at me for responding while i was driving, and now i don't do that anymore either. and there's good reason for all of us to stop doing it. jenna: you've just got to leave your phone in the backseat. can't even keep it close to you while you're driving. >> reporter: that's a good idea. jenna: rick, thank you. jon: ready or not, the iowa caucuses are three weeks from today, and turnout is key for the republican presidential contenders. especially on what is almost on a cold, january night. steve brown is live from sioux

city, iowa. steve? >> reporter: hey there, jon. turnout is expected to be a little heavier than normal. republicans say enthusiasm is on their side, there's been a lot of publicity for the debates. we've got the debate on fox thursday night, but traditionally evangelical christians have dominated the caucuses. a 2008 exit poll said maybe 60% of people who showed up were self-identified evangelical or born-again christians. it is suspected that newcomers to the caucus, those folks will be much less interested in social issues. >> they tend to be more socially moderate, they're fiscal conservatives that focus on fiscal issues and tend to be more urban. so the campaign that can capitalize on that is going to do very well on caucus night. >> reporter: now, evangelical christians are very interested in social issues, particularly abortion and definition of marriage, but the folks that are

newcomers are likely to be less interest inside that, more interested in economic issues because likely they were previously independents, perhaps disgruntled republicans coming back to the fold or currently disgruntled democrats. those folks are largely interest inside what most of america is interested in chiefly, and that's economic issues and jobs. so if those folks start showing up, it may water down a bit the influence of evangelical christians come caucus night. could be interesting. jon? jon: that's why the whole nation's going to be watching. thanks very much, steve brown. and fox hosts the next gop debate this thursday, sioux city iowa, is the place. 9 p.m. eastern is the time, it'll be right here on, where else, the fox news channel, america's election headquarters. jenna: well, he was convicted under the stolen valor act after falsely claiming he received the congressional medal of honor, but a court ordered his conviction overturned ruling he was just exercising his right to free speech. what do you tnk about this? wee ngo take a closer

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jenna: "happening now" the militant group hezbollah is revealing the name of what they say are undercover via officers stationed in lebanon. the via is dismissing it as propaganda. our next guest says it may be a pr prelude.

why do you think that? >> hezbollah has done war against the united states. remember the attacks in 1983, hundreds of soldiers and military killed. attacks against the u.s. embassy in pwa route. hostage taking for ten years. they stopped. now they say our enemy is only israel, only in the south for 20 years. for them to come back and start making arrests and the alleged claims not in the south of lebanon but next to the capitol of beirut where the army is, that is very indicative. and i put it in the framework of what is happening in the region. remember, month and a half we had the issue here with an iranian attack. and hezbollah is the strategic right arm of the iranians. it seems to me that hezbollah is sending a signal, a sign to us that if we do not behave with them, then they are going to target us. jenna: do you believe the claims that they have indeed picked up u.s. spies inside of lebanon?

>> sources in lebanon, jenna are telling us that hezbollah has been able to penetrate a lot of circles that are friendly to the united states, lebanese opposition circles friendly to the united states. we will have to wait and see what the administration and the agency here will counter with arguments. basically it will be hard for hezbollah to come with names, if at least they don't have some sort of connection, agents or officers i wouldn't know. certainly hezbollah is on it because they have some information. jenna: let's say that it is propaganda, they don't really have anything, they are just making some noise right now. what is the proper way that we should counter that propaganda, so whatever they are trying to achieve we stop them? >> first of all hezbollah has a lot of operations in this he hemisphere, south of our border within the united states. we need to be a tentative to their movements here. second, in the media, in the open we should tell them, okay, give us the names, give us everything we have and we will make sure to respond to each one of these files.

jenna: we've spent a lot of time obviously over the last decade talking about al-qaida and the taliban. you've mentioned hezbollah and some of the things that have happened over the last several decades when it comes to countering the united states. what makes hezbollah so different than the enemies we've been fighting in recent times. >> hezbollah is backed by a very powerful regime that has petition row dollars, that is the iranian regime. and we are in confrontation with the iranian, we are dealing with the drone issue, the penetration of iraq. hezbollah is a long arm of the iranian regime. we have to see it as a lebanese organization and an iranian backed organization. when we contain iran we node to have a plan to contain hezbollah. jenna: what do you think is next. >> hezbollah will not do one thing and sit on it. this is a prelude to something. it could be in iraq, in syria, or in this hemisphere, the

american hemisphere. jenna: a good reminder, just south of our border we know of hezbollah operations, reports of that, not far from us, not in a different continent. something for us to remember. look forward to talking to you more about this in the future, thank you. >> thank you for having me. jon: the u.s. supreme court will step in to rule on a decision that has many veterans and even civilian tph-s thi civilians in this country reset. this man said he was a recipient of the congressional medal of army during the iraq war. he was not a recipient, he was never in the marine corps. he was the first person stolen under the stolen valor act, a law that makes it a crime to say you have received medals. he was sentenced to three years probation and a $5,000 fine. the 9th circuit court

generally considered the most liberal appeals court in the country overruled his conviction ruling that alvarez was within his rights under the first amendment of free speech. the supreme court has agreed to hear the matter. we have a guest who is a former president of the congressional medal of honor society. in broad strokes what do you and the other living medal of honor recipients think of this guy alvarez? >> well, to clean my language up, i'd call him low-life. it's a total disrespect to everybody who is a medal of honor recipient. we go into schools and there are a bunch of us together and we are given credibility and we talk about values and what we fought for and what our country means, and the character development program we've developed, and then you have these people come along. and so it diminishes our value.

people are going to say, is this guy real or a fake? it's stealing somewhat of our reputation. i'm a recipient of the medal of honor, you'll hear everyone say we work for those who can't and every veteran. it takes away from the whole veteran community. >> your story is contained in our own book that you wrote about your experience. you were shot down in vietnam trying to rescue a couple of other pilots who had already been downed. you flew 93 combat missions there. you were imprisoned in the notorious hanoi hilton for six years. i mean you really went to hell and back and i believe that's the title of your book essentially. but to have a guy who never even served, never even wore the uniform claiming to be a congressional medal of honor recipient, i mean, leo, you fought for freedom in this country, the ninth circuit says it's his free speech that allows him to claim to be that, even if

it's a lie. what do you say to the court? >> well, what i'd say is i wish i could have those three judges who did that and take them back to the hanoi hilton, not torture them, but put them next to people who are being torture -d. we call it the heartbreak hotel. i've been with people who tied from torture, i was close to that. they don't understand what america is about. they get so hung up on right of free speech. certain things are free but it certainly isn't the right to diminish the rights of all veterans. awards -- anybody who gets an award that is like a bonus. people get bonuses at the end of the year, we don't get bonuses, we work hard and our reputation is so important to us, to receive, and wear it proudly, i can get emotional about the things that i saw in prison, and the things i saw in combat and people dying for freedom and rights on truth and justice all those thins that the medal of honor has embedded in it. they just -- people like

alvarez, they just diminish what we fought for. jon: there is a book called the medal of honor, it's put out by the congressional medal of honor society foundation. you are in this book as are many of the other living recipients, some of whom have already died since this thing was published. i would encourage people to buy the book and take a look, read your stories and find out what this medal really means, and what it takes to earn it, to receive it. it says in the book, in the forward to the book, written by former president bush, bush 41 that none of you guys who won this thing, who received this thing set out to do so. >> yeah i think i got your question. yeah there are no such things of medal of honor winners, that's a common term, that's okay. we are medal of honor recipients. no one goes out to win a medal of honor, you're right.

jon: thanks nor coming in and sharing your thoughts th us. >> thank you, jon. had dinner with you, you're one of the good guys, thanks for doing that. jon: for a look at one of the legal ramifications let's talk with the chairman of the medal of honor foundation. john, the ninth circuit ruled that the government essentially cannot act as the truth police and punish lies that cause no direct harm. but you just heard leo say u know, for thos, you know, there is a lot of harm to them when a guy like alvarez makes completely made up claims stkpweu don't think medal of honor winners suffer at all. i don't think anybody questions what valor they demonstrated. almost instantly this fella was revealed because the names of real medal winners are listed.

he was prosecuted for fraud on the local government there. if you want to blame anyone it shouldn't be the judges. it should be congress that wrote a terrible at that time out. you don't have to know what you say is false, you don't have to intend what you say is false. you don't have to cause harm. this is a statute that a first year criminal law student wouldn't have written, and not all false speech is protected. and the proof of the pudding here is that we, the public, know this guy lied and he's properly being excoriated for falsely representing service that he never gave himself. jon: let's get the response from jay towne who works with the congressional medal of honor society foundation and helped prepare one of the briefs for the supreme court in answer to what the ninth circuit has tkaopb. done. jay. jenna: the congressional of honor foundation was not about to leave their fight in the dressing room on this one and

when the brief was written they didn't either. false statement of facts have no constitutional value whatsoever. this was not political speech. the words spoken by alvarez and his claim to be a medal of honor recipient has no constitutional value. our constitution does not pretend this type of speech, it's akin t fighting words. for someone to claim also as mr. flannery was saying it doesn't cause harm perhaps you should review the previous segment, i diminish the medal, the medal honor system that our military has and it also diminishes what the medal of honor recipients are trying to do by perpetuating the legacy of the medal and all the values that even do you the medal of honor. >> isn't it a fact that right now we're showing this guy to be a liar and no one in this country this is a medal of honor winner is any more diminished by the service and sacrifice they

made to this count three. i just don't think your position is correct. if he, for example said he was a medal of honor winner to get a disability he would have then made a material representation, somebody would have relied on it and an actual specific harm would have occurred not just some sort of general harm. when we talk about defamation there is intent to harm and an actual specific harm that occurs. in criminal speech there is a crime. >> if you read the stolen value or act congress specifically declared and it's binding that fraudulently claiming to be a medal of honor recipient is harm to the medal of honors system. >> it says you falsely make a statement. a comic could make a statement. we have a society that is filled with false speech f we ou outlawed there would be no free speech. we'll have aeu lee even and satisfactor

jon: jay, quick thought. >> in congress' find wheupbgs they passed the stolen value or act they said that fraudulent claims of being a medal of honor recipient -- jon: gentlemen, i'm sorry we'll have to leave it there. ♪

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is your cholesterol where your doctor wants? ask your doctor if crestor is right for you. [ female announcer ] if you can't afford your medication, astra zeneca may be able to help. jon: here ace house call with a twist. one colorado county coming up with a program to send ambulances to home by appointment all in an effort to save money. alicia acuna live in denver. >> reporter: eagle county is home to vail, colorado. it is a rural area and they have a shortage of physicians. they are launching this program. when paramedics like kevin creek are not on emergency calls they make house calls to patients. let's say someone goes to the emergency room for an illness or accident and then they are sent home. that usually requires a follow-up at their physician's office, something that isn't always possible, plus doctor's hours are spread so thin as it is. with the community paramedic

program that follow-up can be done in the patient's home. >> one of the things i have noticed is that these patients, when i walk into their home the look on their face when they know that someone is coming in to their home, on a nonemergent basis to help them and take care of them, they are flabbergasted. they are really kind of floored. >> reporter: organizers say these types of visits could cut the number of emergency room visits by half, which could be a huge cost saver. in eagle county an estimated 80% of all er visits are not true emergencies, they are things that could have been taken by a family physician, but there is also that issue of access doctors say. lucille was recently prescribed the service by her physician and she told us she loves it. >> he makes sure everything is good and, you know, and having someone come into my house to take care of me is great. yeah. because like in the wintertime i don't like driving that much in

the snow. i don't want -- i used to have to drive up to vail. >> reporter: vail is about a 30-minute drive for lucille, which is actually kind of far for her. jon, as you can imagine there are a number of communities across the nation that are using this as a model for their own town. jon: a 30-minute drive on those snowy winding roads can be pretty dangerous. interesting, thank you. jenna: scientists come close to finding the god particle? that is what they call it. it's a building block of the universe. what it could tell us. we'll dig a little deeper into the god par particle next.

jon: right now new information on some celebrity stories we are watching from inside our control room. gary busey telling folks at a washington party he is backing newt gingrich for president. he says he's never met the former house speaker but says, i know what he stands for. flight attendants for american airlines striking back at alec baldwin for his twitter attack on them. tmz is reporting they want his show "30 rock" removed from all in flight programming. baldwin recently booted off an american flight for refusing to turn off his phone, he criticized the flight attendants in that tweet. lindsay lohan due back in court tomorrow but a stolen purse almost made her miss the appearance, imagine that. she did get her $5,000 purse back along with her passport and very important court papers, but it was missing $10,000 in cash.

jenna: you walk around with $10,000 in cash in your wallet, jon? all the time. who doesn't. jenna: it is considered the holy grail of physics, the god particle is what it's called the basic building block of the universe. scientist vs. been looking for this particle, this specific one for decades in order to unlock the secrets of the universe. rick folbaum is here. >> reporter: scientists say they have moved much closer to find be that subatomic particles. it would be the last of the particles to be proved. it was named a god particle in the book. like god it is everywhere but very elusive. proving its existence would prove the field of physics is on track and it would answer questions that even i will lewded the great albert einstein. it is being looked for near geneva, switzerland.

it's a sir lar tunnel where scientists fire particle beams at super fast speeds. the researchers were careful to note that they do not have enough data yet to definitively say the particle exists. the latest data is strong enough that the question could be answered one way or the other by next year. if that particle was confirmed it would rank among the most important sigh inch teuf scientific advances in a hundred years. don't ask me any follow-ups, i know very little about this story. jenna: rick will follow the progress, the latest discovery in science. we'll see what happens, and we'll basketball right back with more "happening now." cranberry juice? wake up! ♪ that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm [ male announcer ] for half the calories -- plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8.

jon: wow, been a busy tuesday. jenna: what have the chatters been saying today? jon: oh, they are talking about the oldest active duty soldier, that soldier who is 60-plus, i